Paleo Banana Bread French Toast

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I have a new rule about weekends: they’re not over until I’m back in my spiny office chair. Which means that technically Monday mornings are still the weekend, and my brain is definitely still on vacation. We only get so many weekends, right? Seize them! Use them! Make the most of those precious hours. 

What’s that you say? Your Monday mornings are too busy for this sort of fare? What if I told you this stack of Paleo Banana Bread French Toast came together in 10 minutes? Yup. When you bake a loaf of grain-free banana bread the night before, making French Toast in the morning becomes easy as pie. Just slice, soak, and cook.  

This is what the beginning of a good week looks like. When Mondays start like this, there is really no reason to stress. So go ahead. Join me. Let your brain stay on vacation just a bit longer. I don’t think you’ll regret it. In fact, you might start looking forward to your Monday mornings. 

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Paleo Banana Bread French Toast

Makes 4 slices, serves 2 

4 slices Paleo Banana Bread with Cacao Nibs, about 1-inch thick 

1 egg 

1/4 cup coconut milk 

1/4 teaspoon vanilla 

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg 

Butter, for cooking and serving 

Maple syrup, for serving (optional) 

1. In a smal bowl, whisk together the egg, coconut milk, vanilla and spices until fully combined. Pour mixture into a flat rimmed plate or container.  

2. Lie the sliced bread in a single layer on the plate so that it soaks up the egg mixture. While it soaks, heat a pat of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Flip the bread slices over, allowing the other side to soak up the more of the egg mixture. There may be leftover egg mixture in the end.  

3. When the skillet is hot, swirl the butter around the pan to coat the surface, and then place each slice of bread down flatly. Let cook for 2-3 minutes, until bottoms become golden begin to crisp. Use a spatula to flip each slice, and cook for an addition 2-3 minutes. Remove from pan and serve hot with a pat of butter and a drizzle of syrup.  

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Paleo Banana Bread with Cacao Nibs

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Using almond flour in place of regular flour in banana bread makes for a soft, nutty, and moist loaf. One that’s satisfying, grain-free, and gluten-free, too!

A lot of bakers will tell you that in order to make bread, you need to pull out the scale. You need to measure twice, and be precise. I am not that baker. In fact, this recipe is a “base recipe” from which I’ve made many variations, including turning the slices into french toast, swapping out the cacao nibs for chocolate chips, and topping the whole thing with walnut streusel. My mom has reported replacing half of the almond flour with regular wheat flour. My point: be brave, experiment, and create.

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My advice: Don't be afraid to try test things out. Sometimes, a little experiment can lead to wonderful things. Even if it doesn't work, you'll learn more about your ingredients by giving it a shot.

Alternative flours are different, and bake differently than traditional flour — some experimentation and learning comes with baking with almond flour for the first time, too!

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Paleo Banana Bread with Cacao Nibs

Published April 17, 2015 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Yields: 1 loaf   |    Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup coconut flour 
• 1 tablespoon arrowroot starch  
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil or butter, softened or melted, plus more for greasing your pan
• 4 eggs 
• 4 very ripe bananas (if you are using bananas that are solid yellow (i.e., they do not yet have brown spots), you may wish to add 1-2 tablespoons of honey to this bread to increase it’s sweetness)
• 1/2 cup cacao nibs

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a standard 9-inch loaf pan with coconut oil (alternatively, you can line the pan with parchment paper). 
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, until no clumps remain.
3. In a separate bowl, cream together the bananas, coconut oil, and vanilla. Once they are fully combined, stir in the eggs until incorporated. 
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, stirring it in with a spatula or electric mixer until a consistent batter forms. It may have a few small clumps but should be mostly smooth. Fold in the cacao nibs.  
5. Spread the batter into an even layer in the loaf pan. Optionally, sprinkle the top of the load with cacao nibs. Then, place the pan in the center of the oven. Bake for 45 - 55 minutes until golden on top, and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the loaf. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before slicing. 

Paleo Chocolate Chip and Fig Sunbutter Muffins

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Last week, after climbing, we sat in the car debating where to eat, when this place came up on Yelp: mmm...Coffee Paleo Bistro. Decision made! It's rare enough to find a paleo-friendly restaurant, let alone something with a strictly paleo menu.

Mmm...Coffee Paleo Bistro is a small cafe that serves only paleo goodies. It's disguised as a coffee shop, but dishes up grain-free everything, from muffins to brownies and granola. My eyes grew three sizes when I saw the muffins in their pastry case. Those are paleo too?! I asked, already knowing the answer. They were tall, golden muffins that overflowed from their muffins cups the way muffins do in any coffee shop. The owner of the bistro confirmed: paleo. 

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After splitting a muffin for dessert, I knew that it was game time: go home and recreate these muffins. Puffy and oversized. Soft, sturdy, and a bit nutty. I began searching for recipes for sunflower seed butter muffins as soon as I had a decent internet connection. I knew that mmm...Coffee's version used flax, but I prefer to bake with eggs and figured I'd give it a shot. Want a close up of what had me so excited? The texture of these muffins is just so... muffin-y, in a way that most paleo muffs fall short. See:

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Since these muffins are made of primarily sunflower butter, they're high in protein--sunflower seeds are higher in protein than most other common nuts and seeds. Sunflower butter has an addicting peanut butter-like taste to it, so it pairs well with fruit flavors (like figs!) and chocolate. I've been day dreaming about a PB&J version of these muffins, too! 

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Paleo Chocolate Chip and Fig Sunbutter Muffins

Paleo, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Vegan   |   Caitlin Sherwood    |   

Yields: 6   |    Total Time: 30 Minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1 cup sunflower seed butter AKA "sunbutter" (NOTE: if you use homemade sunflower seed butter, your muffins may turn a slight green color as they cool. This is due to a naturally occurring and edible nutrient in plants called chlorogenic acid.
• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/8 teaspoon salt (skip this if you are using salted sunbutter)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped dried figs (roughly 7 figs)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a muffin pan with muffin liners.
2. In a food processor or blender, combine the sunbutter, bananas, eggs, vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Puree until smooth.
3. Fold in the chocolate chips and figs until evenly distributed. Spoon the batter into the muffin liners until they are about 3/4 of the way full.
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden on top and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle.